Jug bands proto-RnB

Memphis and upper Miss. jug bands of late 20s, were another important lead to chicagean RnB/electrifies blues of 40s. Really kinda vaudeville act reaching out to ragtime dancing, their use of drone bass (jug or stove pipe in didgereedoo-style) is pointing towards late 40s Fender'd bass lines of Muddy and Wolf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwo6HVTacYs whistler's foldin' bed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXcvfgGKIVg whistler's tiger

now, Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers (of 'walk right in' hootennanny fame) are to me j.b. par exellence. Cannot find'em on YT, but I suspect Whistler's J.B. are them. Nice late 30s reconstruction of 'tiger', poss. LoC/Charters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mvaIsl6FE mjb kc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ove3rtdU9Wc mjb mov'dat'ding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTriKbYl-pk mjb cc habit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH6ZpWMR2co mjb insane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY5J2TA11HA mjb stealin'

If Gus Cannon's hardly on YT, Will Shade is. Will's Memphis Jug band, that is. Lasted longer (longest?) of the memphis groups- even incorporating our Joe&Minnie of later Hamfats fame.

'stealin' is of course the Dead song, group starting out as revival jug band in 62 (cannot recall name).

Must admit not having played any J.B. out, as such. But the occational Jim Kweskin Vanguard 7" has surfaced

Memphis minnie proto-RnB

After break up with spouse Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie commuted between home town and Chicago for nearly two decades - finding audiences as well as financial funding for further recording work. In this aspect we're all grateful to Great Lakes' boomtown of late 30s, enabeling this remarkable femme artist to develop her personal strand of RnB


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH8_WH5aRqo kissin' in the dark early 50s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSno_4LhXOQ killer diller late 40s both late period outings, easily reaching back twenty years to Memphis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lzDXIo4nWg crazy cryin' 1931

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhis33IOXN0 hoodoo lady mid 30s most prob. ChiTown, though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZm__okfkmA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQwGhSiEMzE rader see'im ded 1938

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiRoNuw5x4M me&my chauffeur 1941 maybe her best known song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uv6_xkPDG8 you is one black rat late 30s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkUp2AQKEFE down by riverside

Hamfats' proto RnB

Gettin' Harlem Hamfats' songs thrown in among younger 50s 60s RnB tunes, are such treats!

Hamfats, who? See, this was kinda blues&ragtime supergroup of mid to late 30s around Great Lakes - catering to growing Miss. expat community of Chitown and Detroit. Best known for their 'weedsmoker's dream' of later Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman fame http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyjW8FTGxbI weedsmoker's

and otherwise showing their revv'd up & modernized jug band style, freshly up from Memphis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2heVEC2djCE oh red

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqs-R0NptEc pitch boogie woogie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5iWPL4_hQ8 little girl

Hamfats' guitarist Joe McCoy may illustrate the musical trek of southern hire hands, from Miss. Delta- via Memphis in late 20s- and up to industrial North http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuQR9gboSAI

Joe & Charlie mcCoy evil woman blues (skip james/robert johnson hellhound-theme, really)

Joe left spouse Memphis Minnie behind, heading for richter pastures up North

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSeosDahbTw Joe mcCoy& Memphis Minnie pile driver blues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meo36F8-PCY Joe + Minnie levee breaks of later Zep fame

Minnie kept on own career in native Memphis of 40s and even early 50s, creating her very own version of
proto-RnB (of more later). While Joe/Hamfats' stomp became staple diet of Bluebird/Chicago type electrified blues of Washboard Sam/Big Bill during war years.